Harmful vs. Beneficial Foods for Optimum Health and Weight

Understanding what foods are beneficial versus harmful is really confusing today, especially since the food industry entices us through great marketing and by adding addictive ingredients. In previous articles, we acquired knowledge about food addiction and Candida (Insert link to OCV Candida article). We will continue this education by providing you with a list of unhealthy foods and the reasons why they do not nourish the human body. It is far better to eat foods as close to their highest nutritional value at harvest—the way God made them—rather than processed foods.

The cost of organic foods is much less than the health care costs of a chronic disease.
Processed Foods.

Processed foods are the foods contained in boxes and bags in the aisles of the grocery store and should be avoided for optimal health and weight. These foods are far from their harvested form. Removal of their nutrients and fiber increase their shelf life. Unfortunately, they decrease the life of the person who consumes them. Consider them dead foods that do not benefit the body but instead harms it. Therefore, try not to eat any processed foods out of a box or bag. This includes cereals, chips, crackers, granola bars, cookies, etc.

Genetically Modified (GMO) Foods

As we discussed in the article Modern Wheat Makes Today’s Bread Harmful, most Americans have no idea wheat has been bred to the point the body thinks of it as a foreign substance. This is from hybridization. A giant step beyond hybridization is Genetically Modified Foods (GMO). What if the body doesn’t recognize genetically modified food? Do we have any long-term studies that tested the premise that GMO foods are safe? No, we do not; instead humans are the present-day lab rats for this experiment.

If a person’s immune system does not recognize gluten or GMO foods it might attack the foreign substance and its own body at the same time. The immune system’s attack would trigger or cause an autoimmune disease; that is probably why these diseases are on the rise. Consequently, you should avoid all GMO foods. The only way to do so is to purchase organic foods. The cost of organic foods is much less than the health care costs of a chronic disease.

Roundup Ready Crops

One type of GMO food to avoid is Roundup Ready crops. These crops are genetically engineered to be resistant to the carcinogen glyphosate, which is the primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.1 Farmers who produce Roundup Ready crops are free to spray Roundup on their fields throughout the growing season, as the plants are resistant to this herbicide. In the United States most of the nation’s corn, wheat, oats, soy, and sugar beets are Roundup Ready crops.2 Can you imagine what this carcinogen may do to the beneficial bacteria in your gut or to your overall health? Organic foods are not GMO or Roundup Ready crops.

Foods to Eliminate

The Pantry

Now we will learn which foods are damaging versus beneficial—the ones God gave us to eat, not the food industry’s offerings. Remove the following unhealthy items from your pantry:

Wheat—anything that contains wheat

Sugar-sweetened drinks—like soda, fruit juice, Gatorade (Flavored waters with no calories are okay to keep and finish, but after they are gone it is best to drink water. If you need to, add a slice of lemon and stevia to your water.)

Sugar—white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup—remove any item with greater than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Unfortunately, sugar does not have a recommended daily allowance.

The Refrigerator

Let’s move on to cleaning out the refrigerator. Remove the following unhealthy items from your refrigerator.

Wheat products

Processed meats such as ham, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and lunch meat. The World Health Organization classified processed meats as a group 1 carcinogen, right up there with tobacco, asbestos, and plutonium! 8

Soft drinks and fruit juices—they are loaded with sugar
Check the ingredients of condiments. If one contains high-fructose corn syrup, throw it out. Health-food stores carry better condiment substitutes, such as organic mayonnaise.

Margarine—organic butter is a healthier choice

All milk products except plain Greek yogurt, which contains probiotics. Milk, similar to wheat and rice, is denatured of its nutritional value to extend its shelf life. Food industries heat raw milk to high temperatures (pasteurization), which destroys all microorganisms and most nutrients, and they add vitamin D to it.

The Freezer

Let’s open up that freezer and see what is inside. Throw out the following unhealthy products:• Wheat products• Dairy products• Packaged frozen meals (while convenient, even these “healthy” brands of frozen foods are processed)

Healthy Substitutions to Purchase

Many unhealthy food choices can be replaced with healthy alternatives that are whole, unprocessed, and natural. The following sections offer a number of options to replace the unhealthy foods you eliminated with flavorful foods as God intended.

Sugar Substitutes

Substitute sugar with a natural sweetener, such as stevia, which is an herb. Another option is local honey. I use a powder form of stevia for baking. Also, I found a natural sweetener with zero calories that rates zero on the glycemic index; it is made from monk fruit. Click here for more information.

Dairy Substitutes

Pasta Substitutes

Buy spaghetti squash, use shirataki noodles, or spiralize zucchini.

We cannot eat perfectly all the time. We may want to eat organic chips or crackers with a healthy dip, or we might be a guest for dinner at someone’s home. Therefore, try to eat nourishing foods at least 80 percent of the time, but the rest of the time, if you choose to eat processed food, make sure it is organic and non-GMO. Eat to live a healthy, bountiful life. Evaluate every single thing you eat. Is it alive or is it dead? Remember, shelf life means no life.

To find out more information about beneficial versus harmful foods get your free copy of 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates* so you can start your journey to optimal health. This is a special promotion offered only to One Christian Voice readers.

Publisher’s Note: We are grateful for this generous offer that Susan has extended to our readers and would greatly appreciate a nice review of her book on Amazon if you choose to download and read this information packed book.

Susan’s desire is to improve the health of the body of Christ. She has her RN and MBA degrees, as well as a master’s in health science. She is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach with the American Association of Christian Counselors. She published three books, Scripture Yoga a #1 Amazon best-selling yoga book, Yoga for Beginners which ranked #3, and 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates. She published two sets of Christian Yoga Card Decks, “How to Receive God’s Peace” and “Fruit of the Spirit” and two Christian Yoga DVDs, God’s Mighty Angels and What the Bible Says About Prayer. Her two digital products Eat to Live with a Low-Carbohydrate, Low-Glycemic, Anti-Inflammatory Diet, and How to Prevent, Improve, and Reverse Alzheimer’s and Dementia are great resources for attaining optimal health. Susan blogs and provides healthy menus, recipes, and corresponding grocery lists on www.HealthyLivingSeriesBlog.com.